Internships Details

About the Organization

The Scottish Seabird Center was opened in 2000 and has grown rapidly into an award winning environmental initiative over the past ten years. The Seabird Center is proud to have been honored with over 25 awards for tourism, including the Thistle Award for Sustainable Tourism, the Queen's Award for Enterprise (Sustainable Development) and the Green Tourism Gold Award. This organization brings together individuals from all backgrounds to help in their goal of sustainable wildlife tourism an environmental education. The Center is a small independent community based charity that depends on public support to maintain its mission of education for the public. The Seabird center is a world leader in advocating for nature and teaching the community of over 200,000 visitors how to protect and care for the environment.

In addition to its important work, with thousands of visitors annually, the Center helps to fuel the local economy and regenerate the historic harbor side and town of North Berwick. Open 364 days a year, the Center is an outstanding year-round facility for tourists, students and the wider local community. Additionally, The Seabird Center offers a variety of online web-cams that broadcast live pictures of the rich wildlife in the Firth of Forth throughout the year. Over 40% of seabirds spend time on the Scottish Island each year. From the world famous Bass Rock gannets to the comical puffins on the Isle of May and Craigleith Island in spring. In summer, the guillemots huddle together like penguins on the sea cliffs and in winter the fluffy white seals are born on the Isle of May and Craigleith Island. You can also see winter visitors, seaduck and wading birds along the shore. Also throughout the year, the occasional and spectacular sight of dolphins, porpoises and whales.

Job Description

Internship opportunities with the Scottish Seabird Center exist in teaching/educational programs, the Discovery Center, and Seabird Center events and exhibits related to the visitor experience, educating the public, and identifying and designing resources to improve staff/visitor interaction.Experiences vary depending on major, skills, and area of interest. Student encounters can include assisting with planning, preparation and delivery of environmental teaching programs. The Center also has a formal teaching program for schools, and a more informal "Puffin Club" aimed at younger children which involves them in practical, fun, hands on environmental and conservation instruction. The Seabird Center offers individualized opportunities for students to tailor their experience. Additional opportunities are also available in website development and web technology, currently including:

• a project with local schools to produce and maintain a website with down-loadable podcasts to allow students and tourists alike to participate in a virtual conservation/environmental tour of the area’s coastline and marine habitats (Wildlife Websites and Podcasts).
• an ‘Environmental Portal’ website, which acts as a one stop shop for ALL environmental matters from endangered species to recyclable packaging and environmentally friendly cleaning products. This is to be a sub-site to our own www.seabird.org site.

  For students interested in business, marketing and eco-tourism, there is an opportunity to work with Discovery Center staff to enhance the visitor experience, develop a study to identify strengths and weaknesses of the overall program, and help identify and design resources for the staff/visitor interaction. Interns might also be involved in developing a staff training program, and produce a monitoring system to evaluate the training/resources.

  Other possible projects

  • Conduct literature reviews of current topics and help keep information in education materials up-to-date.
  • Draw real life parallels to scientific information from exhibits.
  • Create connections between science, scientists, and real people.
  • Assess and evaluate how well the Scottish Seabird Center products serve the needs of their clientele.
  • Assist with and give input on planning of new exhibitions.
  • Assist with the preparation of materials for formal education sessions, with the EO.
  • Conduct research on interpretation techniques for exhibits, e.g. focus on the psychological side of presenting information.
  • Work with families and niche groups – e.g. special needs children.
  • Work with EEO in the Puffin Club and think up new activities.
  • Bring fresh perspective and ideas to the Discovery Center including innovative delivery of interpretation.
  • Help EO with the Wildlife Websites and Podcasts project.
  • Get involved with the preparation of the Environmental Portal project.

  # of Positions per term

  1

  Start Dates

  Spring, Summer

  Duration of Internship

  3-6 Months

Qualifications

Academic Background

Open to all majors

Skills/Experience

Required Skills: Computer literate; good social skills.

Preferred Skills/Experience: Project management; customer service experience, especially in working within a tourist attraction; Environmental and Conservation awareness; Drama and/or Teaching Experience;web design skills.

Language Ability

Proficient written and spoken English. Familiarity with other European languages is not required, but is a plus, as many visitors are from other European countries.

Other Requirements

Good communication and interpersonal skills, confident in dealing with all types of people, in particular members of the public and children; able to work independently as well as part of a team; organized and self-motivated.

Internship Costs

Total costs vary depending on how long you plan to be abroad, where you will be living, your personal spending habits, and current exchange rates. The following estimates will give you a ballpark figure for this internship. Get help with the math from our handy Cost Calculator.
ALL ESTIMATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

IE₃ Program Fee

For spring term 2012, the program fee for the first term of any internship is $2950 - $3150. The expected program fee beginning summer term 2012 is $3450 for the first term. You do not pay tuition in addition to the program fee. Visit your University's IE₃ page for details, costs for additional terms, and campus administrative fees.

Estimated One-Time Expenses

Expense Type	Price
International Travel	$800-$1100
Visa Fees
Recommended Immunizations

*See Additional Cost Information below.

Estimated Monthly Expenses

Expense Type	Price/month
Housing	$400-800
Food	$400
Local Transportation	$100-$200
Recreation	$50-$100
Personal Expenses	$100-$150

Compensation

None

Additional Expense Information

Student will find a shared flat either in North Berwick, or if preferred, Edinburgh. If student lives in Edinburgh, a monthly rail pass costs about $50. Some assistance may be provided with the cost of local travel.

International Travel: Travel by air to Edinburgh or Glasgow Housing costs vary widely depending on whether you choose to live in Edinburgh or North Berwick, and whether you live alone or share a flat.

Additional Information

Visit the Scottish Seabird Centre website at www.seabird.org. Be sure to visit the web cam section and the videos and podcasts - especially the seal diaries. See if you can find the seal birth!

You can watch an advertisement for the SSC here on YouTube. It gives a nice feeling for the facility and the visitor experience: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrM0BGN88UE&feature=related

Watch a BBC segment on Puffins and the SSC.

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